May 6, 2019
McKesson Corp.’s settlement of an opioid lawsuit with West Virginia — the state with the highest U.S. rate of drug-overdose deaths — may encourage other states to seek quick cash to cope with the rising societal costs of addiction. West …
October 8, 2018
A lawsuit seeking to hold drugmakers and distributors responsible for a nationwide opioid epidemic should be allowed to move forward, a federal magistrate said in a preliminary ruling that may increase the likelihood of a settlement. Companies including Johnson & …
March 5, 2018
The U.S. Justice Department has asked a federal judge overseeing hundreds of lawsuits against opioid manufacturers and distributors to give it 30 days to decide whether to participate in the litigation. The department made the request in papers filed in …
November 20, 2017
Oxycontin maker Purdue Pharma LP is proposing a global settlement in an attempt to end state investigations and lawsuits over the U.S. opioid epidemic, according to people familiar with the talks. Purdue’s lawyers raised the prospect with several southern-state attorneys …
August 17, 2017
Big Pharma is having a Big Tobacco moment as litigation over opioids attract star lawyers and a growing list of states and local governments seeking their own multibillion-dollar payout to deal with costs of a burgeoning drug epidemic. On Tuesday, …
July 6, 2017
Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter has joined the ranks of state attorneys general who have sued manufacturers of opioid pain medication, alleging that deceptive marketing campaigns by the drug makers have fueled the state’s opioid epidemic. On June 30 Hunter …
June 23, 2017
Missouri on June 21 became the third U.S. state to accuse major drug manufacturers of fraudulently misrepresenting the risks of opioid painkillers now at the center of a national addiction epidemic. Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley said his office filed …
June 14, 2017
State and local leaders fighting a worsening opioid abuse epidemic are studying tactics used in the tobacco lawsuits of the 1990s, as they try to claw back billions from the companies who make and sell the powerful painkillers. More than …
June 2, 2017
A growing number of U.S. states, counties and cities are filing lawsuits accusing drug companies of deceptively marketing opioid painkillers to downplay their addictiveness, but some lawyers say the industry’s highly regulated nature could pose a hurdle to their success. …